Connor
Preaching To The Choir, A Love Letter to Ridge Vineyards
Posted by Connor Smith on
I love making lists. Here’s a fun prompt: what are the greatest wineries in America? I’ve got a lot of top 10 contenders turning over in my head, with emphasis on historical importance. One of these days I’ll sit down and hammer out an order. But Ridge is my #1.
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- Tags: Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Monte Bello, Pantheon, Ridge, Santa Cruz Mountains, USA, Zinfandel
Remember the Name: Golden Cluster is One of America's Great Wines
Posted by Connor Smith on
The Le Dû's team was struck immediately on first tasting of these wines. They are plainly on-their-face remarkable beverages that are certain to entrance without any exposition of their story. But these wines also prove to be a seemingly bottomless well of intrigue.
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- Tags: Flora, Golden Cluster, Jeff Vejr, Oregon, Pantheon, Semillon, USA, Willamette Valley, Wine
Carac Terre Cahors: Rustic Malbec From the French High Country
Posted by Connor Smith on
The global revival of interest in Malbec has led Cahors producers like Carac Terre to really step up their game, with an eye on export markets. Proud and self-assured, Cahors winemakers prefer their traditional rustic, tannic, and spicy expression of Malbec to the juicier Argentine wines.
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- Tags: Cahors, Carac Terre, Cot, France, French Malbec, Malbec, Sud Ouest, Sud Ouest France
The Great Forgotten Wine Category
Posted by Connor Smith on
Somewhere along the line, it became a truism that serious wine is dry wine. It’s the perception that a sweet tooth is the basest of palates, and one of the most rewarding things about wine is developing our palates into something more discerning. But I promise you, a decent Eiswein or Tokaji is not White Zinfandel!
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- Tags: Auslese, Banyuls, Barsac, Beerenauslese, Commandaria, Dessert Wine, Eiswein, Fortified Wine, Late Harvest, Marsala, Port, Sauternes, Sherry, Straw Wine, Sweet Wine, Tokaji, Vin Santo
Why the Hyper-Gentrification of Napa Can Be a Good Thing For California Wine
Posted by Connor Smith on
The ever-accelerating cost of Napa winemaking, paired with the reserve of people willing to pay up for a sprawling estate of their own, means the idea of a small-scale farmer-vigneron gets more laughably alien to the Napa scene every passing year. That can be a good thing for California wine as a whole. Here’s why.
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- Tags: California, Napa, Santa Cruz Mountains, USA, Wine